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Johannesburg - South Africans are starting to show signs of saving more and improving their planning for the future, the latest Old Mutual Savings Monitor has found.

Released on Tuesday, the research showed that the SA economy was on a slow road to recovery.

However, South Africans were still saving too little.

Rian le Roux, Old Mutual Investment Group economist, said national budgets were under heavy pressure worldwide "and people will have to accept that governments will not be able to lend much support during their retirement years".

Further strain was put on retirement savings by poorly performing markets, early retirement and low savings, which showed that many people were inadequately provided for.

"Their savings efforts will have to treble or quadruple in the effort to put sufficient money aside for retirement to avoid becoming a burden on the state or on their grandchildren."

Lynette Nicholson, head of research at Old Mutual, noted that people who planned ahead, even if they had debt, were managing to service debt better and save more, compared with those who did not plan.

"Improving understanding of the importance of money management and long-term planning is crucial to fostering a positive savings culture," she said.

The sandwich squeeze

More than 20% of South Africans fall into the "sandwich generation" which supports both their children and their parents.

"The
sandwich generation is the generation of people squeezed between their own
children and their ageing parents, and supporting both of them," Old
Mutual said.

This is much
higher than first world economies like the USA and Canada, where around 14% carry
this burden, with the the UK coming in at 10% and Japan 6%.

In 1990, less
than 33% of young adults aged 18 to 24 years lived with their parents.

Old Mutual said
today almost 70% of South Africans aged 18 to 24 live at home.

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